2007-12-05 Regular Meeting
SOLID WASTE ADVISORY BOARD
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
December 5, 2007 @ 5:15 PM
Borough Conference Room
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Call to Order
Chair Ed Mahoney called to order the Regular Meeting of the SWAB at 5:15pm on December 5,
2007 at KIB Conference Room.
Roll Call
M. Barber conducted a roll call and a quorum was established. The following persons were present:
Board Members Present Not Present Excused
Altenhof, Barry ./
Hinkle, Bill ./
Holm, Freya ./
Owen, Marion ./
Pillans, Richard ./
Mahoney, Ed ./
Rohrer, Dan ./
Also in attendance were:
Ex-Officio Members: Chris Lynch and Tracy Mitchell. Rick Gifford, Woody Koning, Alan Torres and Mary
Barber, Kodiak Island Borough. Caroll Tracy, Kodiak Sanitation. Others present were Jim Ashford, Ken
Reinke and Hunter Roesler.
Approval of A2enda
Chair asked for approval of the agenda. Approval was given by a voice vote of the board.
Approval of Minutes - October 24. 2007
Chair asked for approval of minutes. Chair asked that F. Holm be changed from Not Present to
Excused. Approval was given by a voice vote of the board.
Approval of Minutes - November 14, 2007
Chair asked for approval of minutes. Approval was given by a voice vote of the board.
Visitor Comments
None
Page I 1
Reports
None
Unfinished Business
Methods of Solid Waste Pickup (Curbside/Dumpsters)
Discussion:
E. Mahoney wanted to clarify consensus of the board at November 14 meeting was no
community dumpsters. What is a community dumpster exactly and if there are dumpsters
where will they be located?
B. Hinkle thinks curbside should be used for 90% of the residents and possible transfer stations
and dumpsters in the outlying areas.
R. Gifford said the Contractor should be responsible for deciding where the dumpsters need to
be placed and the board needs to establish the policy.
B. Hinkle would like to see transfer stations (manned if cost effective) outside the high density
areas.
E. Mahoney concurred he could see them at Bells Flats and the State Park at Monashka, but
everywhere in between should have curbside.
C. Lynch stated that the Board would establish the policy of No Dumpsters. If a dumpster is
needed it will be up to the Contractor to provide it. Things are going to have to go through a
phase process. The Contractor isn't going to have the Transfer Stations up and running
immediately, so the dumpsters are going to have to be phased out over the life of the contract.
C. Tracy wanted to clarify the community dumpsters that Bell and Associates is referring to is
residential dumpsters. These shouldn't be mistaken for the commercial dumpsters or
contractor dumpsters. These dumpsters are not going to change. It's the residential dumpsters
that the Board is discussing, if she's not mistaken.
W. Koning stated that strong policy recommendations should be the boards responsibility
regarding the residential dumpsters.
B. Altenhoff would like to insert the term ItGeneral Residential Dumpsters" when discussing
removal of dumpsters so the community is clear on what dumpsters are going to be removed.
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E. Mahoney said that Hap Heiberg questioned in November 14th,s meeting carts versus cans
with snow removal.
Discussion:
Consensus was that the Contractor will deal with different situations that arise during the
contract.
M. Owen said communities all over the world deal with snow in their pay as you throw
programs. It isn't something the Board needs to concern themselves with.
New Business
Transfer Site
Discussion:
B. Hinkle felt transfer sites are a good idea for public in the outlying areas to get rid of large
items as apposed to driving to the landfill.
F. Holm said that R. Pillans had some great ideas about transfer sites, it's a shame he couldn't
be here to share.
Recycling
E. Mahoney wanted to know about a Sub Committee. According to the Clerk's office they could
be a couple members of the board and the board could choose a couple people from the
public. Is this something we are ready to do?
B. Hinkle said that educating the community, not only about recycling but the whole waste
stream. Setting up a Sub Committee would be great but doesn't know that the board is ready
for that yet.
F. Holm said that Deb Darminio and she were both interested in being on the Sub Committee
but felt it should probably be in Phase II of this process.
B. Altenhoff felt that recycling has to be a major part of the board. The overwhelming
sentiment of the community members he has spoken to is that recycling has to happen and
there needs to be a BIG effort. He suggests advertising for others to take on this job of
educating the public. It needs to be defined as what recycling will be, how the outreach
program will work and what it involves. This needs to be talked about now rather than later.
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B. Hinkle said he hoped by now everyone had a chance to watch the pay as you throw video. At
this time he would like to get a better idea of the cost of recycling before he went any further
with the Sub Committee. Doesn't feel we are there yet.
E. Mahoney said he agrees, but once the RFP goes out on the street the board won't be able to
change anything.
B. Altenhoff asked as a board do we have authority to do market sampling to find out the level
of resistance. Curious what the community response will be.
M. Owen agrees that it would be a complete failure of the board not to educate the community
about recycling. It's all spelled out in the EPA link T. Mitchell emailed to the board a couple
months ago. If you want structure on where to go it is all in the document. It's not a quick read
document, but all the information you're looking for is there.
E. Mahoney wanted to know how we would propose this information into the RFP.
M. Owen said the board needs to read this document and get informed so they can go to the
Assembly with recommendations for the RFP. She stated that this document should be
required reading for the board.
C. Lynch said in Bell & Associates document we have only gone through the initial phase of it
because it is the collections and that is what the RFP is that will be going out. Where the board
needs to be at this point is setting policy. We need to state: Yes, we want recycling. Yes, we
want transfer sites. No, we don't want residential community dumpsters. We're looking for a 7
to 10 year plan & within this plan as we fully develop our solid waste collection plan we don't
have to go out for another RFP. July 1st when the contract is up the policies will be in place to
allow us to implement them.
E. Mahoney wanted to know if the board would see the draft of the RFP to ensure the policies
that the board sets are in place.
C. Lynch said yes the board should see the first draft to ensure the table of content has the
board's policy items in place.
R. Gifford said in Bell and Associates memo that the board has in their packet it talks about
recyclable materials and requesting services.
K. Reinke wanted to let the board know of a monthly meeting held, Sustainable Kodiak which
he felt would be an excellent source to find volunteer's for the Sub Committee on educating the
community on recycling.
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E. Mahoney thinks that's an excellent idea and would like K. Reinke or M. Owen to come back
to the next meeting with possible volunteers. Possibly get this on the agenda for next meeting.
M. Owen wanted to get staff to request 8 -10 copies of the EPA report for the next meeting.
She will send the link to T. Mitchell to request copies.
Threshold Involvement
E. Mahoney asked if everyone knows what Threshold is and to let the board know Threshold
employs challenged individuals. Through the involvement of doing different things recycling
became their main focus. He also let the board know that he's on the board of Threshold and
Threshold is interested in having a part of recycling. Not sure what that would entail, but would
like to see some involvement. Asked if C. Lynch had anything she would like to add.
C. Lynch said she is also on the board of Threshold and as this process develops and recycling
becomes part of the table of contents the board doesn't want to see Threshold cut out of it as
Threshold does employ challenged individuals that wouldn't otherwise be able to get
employment. Threshold board wants to supply suggestions to keep their involvement and
would like abilities phased in.
E. Mahoney feels that Threshold could do the recycling if set up easily without making it too
complicated. As stated earlier we don't need to reinvent the wheel. Would like to know how
the Solid Waste board felt about Threshold's involvement?
Board was unanimously in favor.
A. Torres felt that Threshold would do a great job, but believes the recycling portion should be
a competitive bid contract. As it is now Threshold is being considered as a sole source vendor,
but it should go out for bid.
Further discussion by the board on whether or not recycling would be part of the RFP.
Recycling is part of the RFP for collections, but a separate RFP for processing.
W. Koning said that an option would be to provide a separate RFP for the processing of
recyclables at the same time as the collection RFP goes out. It may create more interest.
Threshold needs to ask some key questions: Is recycling the key to Thresholds mission? Is
there other business that Threshold could provide the challenged individuals? What's the
business aspect associated with the cost per ton? This should be talked about a lot. How much
is the community willing to pay to recycle? This could be an interesting argument. Cost is a big
issue and a lot of discussion needs to happen regarding recycling and Threshold's involvement.
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E. Mahoney asked if W. Koning would be willing to come to Threshold's next meeting being
held January 8th, 5:15PM at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center.
W. Koning said he would be there.
E. Mahoney asked if there was anything further on Thresholds involvement or comments.
H. Roesler said that he has been working to set up a 2nd hand tool store that caters to
recyclables such as tools, building materials, marine equipment, windows, etc. He had the
opportunity to spend some time with R. Pillans and he suggested that H. Roesler come to this
SWAB meeting and talk to the board about it.
Discussion-community awareness and program information that T. Mitchell provided regarding
a too good to toss program. Possibly having separate facility next to the transfer station for
these types of items.
Bell and Associates Memo dated 11/24/07
E. Mahoney read the memo to the board. Basically, what the board needs to look at is how to
keep the cost of recycling down. The following list is some of the items and services that could
keep cost low and encourage recycling on the island:
1. Land (Lease at $1 a year for recycling processing)
Consensus was yes.
2. Building (assist with construction)
Consensus was yes.
3. Equipment:
a. Horizontal Baler
b. Sort Line Equipment to remove contaminants
E. Mahoney said Threshold has some pretty good equipment and maybe this could be a hand in
hand type thing, possible match.
R. Gifford said that with the expected additional volume of recyclables Threshold may need
bigger and better equipment to handle it.
Consensus was yes.
Page I 6
4. Education/Outreach
5. Property Tax Breaks
E. Mahoney wanted examples of tax breaks.
C. Lynch said that there are different types of exemptions. Churches, non-profits, senior, etc.
R. Gifford said it's probably moot point since Threshold is a non-profit. It's a way of the
municipality to give incentives to tax payers.
C. Tracy said that the board is going to have to determine if recycling is going to be mandatory
or voluntary.
B. Hinkle said that yes it all needs to be looked at but first we need to figure out what's cost
effective.
Consensus was yes on both.
6. Is zoning an issue? Expedite the permitting process if necessary.
Consensus was yes.
E. Mahoney said that he thinks everything on the memo from Bell & Associates is pretty
common sense stuff and he would agree with all of it. Will be looking forward to see how all of
this is put into the RFP.
Visitor Comments
J. Ashford said that everything that has been discussed is going to revolve around money. The
contractor isn't going to come here unless they make money. You need to recognize that this is
all about money. Think about it and be very careful.
Board Comments
F. Holm wanted to know how much garbage from the Cruise ships has been going to the
landfill?
T. Mitchell said they aren't depositing their garbage here.
F. Holm wanted to know about pasagshak residents not having to pay for garbage.
T. Mitchell said that they technically don't have a dumpster and they don't pay right now,
however they do use the Y dumpster. This is being addressed by the Assembly.
Page I 7
E. Mahoney wanted to know if the KIB is advertising the SWAB meetings? He wanted to see
them continue to do so. He hopes the board gets to see the RFP before it goes out. Barging off
island wasn't reflected in T. Mitchell's comments on the Alaska Waste paper and doesn't know
if it's feasible for us, but it is something that D. Rohrer brought up and according to the
numbers it may be.
T. Mitchell wanted to know what numbers he was referring to? Alaska Waste numbers?
E. Mahoney said he wasn't sure but ~as something that D. Rohrer was interested in
looking into further. Is this information going to be looked into?
B. Hinkle said this isn't part of this RFP. This RFP is dealing with collections.
E. Mahoney said he hasn't heard of any estimate of cost.
T. Mitchell said until we get responses back from the RFP we won't know.
Meetin2 Scheduled
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday January 9, 2008 5:15PM at KIB Conference Room
Adiourn
There being no further business, Chair adjourned the meeting at 7:00PM.
SUBMITTED BY:
Date:
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Date: 1- 9- 0 It
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